The Care Bears and The Space Cube Mission
by CaptainElsa
Summary: The Science Cube is under attack, and the Care Bears must help save the day or else all of Care-a-lot will be in danger! The Science Cube and Science Bear is an expansion of my Care Bear universe. It's greatly inspired by the Care Bears episodes in space, just for an older audience. This is one of my favorite and somewhat older CB stories! Wish x Funshine paired here.
1. Darkness Rising

THE SPACE CUBE MISSION

CHAPTER 1: DARKNESS RISES

The Science Cube had been in the news a lot recently. Wish faintly heard the TV program going in the living room as she and Funshine were playing an alien space arcade game. Cheer Bear was watching the tube since she had just gotten back from roller skating with Champ Bear.

"Wasn't the Cube attacked recently?" Funshine Bear asked in between turns.

It had. The Cube was a huge scientific base out in space, but it was a very unique and elite place. It was made of light green clouds, and was 1 mile in every dimension. The inside was huge, and there were so many levels that held scientific mysteries and tests that Wish couldn't even imagine half of them. The Care Bears had never been there before as there were no problems up until now.

"Yes, I think it was, by the Evil Bears. I wonder what they want with it."

"Me, too." Funshine agreed, shooting more aliens with perfect accuracy, "I don't know about you, but I hope those Evil Bears knock it off. It's not funny."

Wish nodded, and Funshine let her play the next round. She shot down only a handful of enemies, and smiled proudly. She wasn't as good as Funshine, but she was having just the same amount of fun. Unfortunately, she lost the game.

Just then, Cheer came into the room to see what they were up to. She had her usual hop in her step and the room seemed to brighten even more with her presence.

"Hey, fighting the aliens again, aren't we?" Cheer said to Wish.

"Yeah. It's always good to keep our skills stellar." that got a hearty laugh out of all of them, but it quickly vanished.

"Oh my colors guys, did you hear what happened on the news?" Cheer asked both of them, struggling to remain positive, "Its not good. Not only have the Evil Bears attacked Science Bear's cube, it's also having an effect here. The Care-a-lot National Space Center relies on the Space Cube as a partner in science. Things are going to go from bad to worse if someone doesn't lend a helping paw…"

"Really? I didn't know that." Wish said, shrugging.

Just as she said that, Tenderheart's voice boomed through the Hall of Hearts loudspeaker. He said, " _Attention Hall of Hearts, I'm requesting everyone joins a family meeting at the heart-shaped table in five minutes, please!"_

He wasn't exactly requesting, it was an order. Nonetheless, Wish, Cheer, and Funshine all looked at each other questionably. _Would this meeting be about the Space Cube? Probably so,_ Wish thought.

The three of them joined the other Bears were gathering around the table. Wish sat in her usual spot.

As expected, Grumpy, Grams, Hugs and Tugs, Bedtime, and Love-a-lot came in last. Love-a-lot was pampering herself with blush and fixing the new bow in her hair, and Grumpy was muttering to himself under his breath, probably about having to come to another meeting again. Grams tried to take away the toys from the cubs, but it seemed they were content in playing with their rocket ship and astronaut figures. Hugs made space noises that kind of disrupted the serious atmosphere.

"Wee!" Tugs said, making the astronaut jump through space, "Boing! Boing! Look, I'm space walking!"

"Space walking? A nap sounds better…" Bedtime yawned.

"Thank you for joining. Alright Care Bears, let's get down to business. I requested you all come to this meeting because as I'm sure of it, you all have heard of the recent attacks on the Space Cube, owned by Science Bear." Tenderheart started.

"Why hasn't anyone done anything about this yet?" Grumpy asked, "Shouldn't the Care-a-lot National Space Center have this all under control?"

"It should, yes, Grumpy, but it doesn't. That's why… we need to help Science Bear save his cube. I first want a show of paws to see who would like to come and help volunteer to save Science Bear and his Cube."

Wish's paw was up in a flash. "I want to help!"

Then, Funshine, Cheer, Friend, Grams, Hugs and Tugs, and Share put up their paws. Wish was disappointed that none of the other Bears did. So was Tenderheart.

"Well, 6 Bears can't run a space ship. We're going on the _Happiness_ this time. Now that I know who really wants to go, I'm going to ask the rest of the family to come along on this journey. We need everyone to help."

"What do those pesky Evil Bears want with Science Bear? I'd love to know." Love-a-lot said, only half paying attention.

"Love-a-lot, my sweetheart. I thought you knew already. Well, in case any of you don't, the Evil Bears are attacking Science Bear's Cube because they want a new project he's been working on. What it is, I'm not so sure."

"Oh, I love it when you call me sweetheart." she swooned, and fluttered her eyes at him, not really paying attention to the rest of what he was saying.

"Love-a-lot, why don't you knock it off?" Share poked her best friend's side.

"Hey! I _love_ going on space missons." she said, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Well I didn't see your paw up first, like Wish Bear." Tenderheart pointed out, and most of the Bears nodded in agreement.

"Ugh. You're so unappreciative, my teddy bear."

Tenderheart blushed and everyone gave him a strange eye. He coughed to get everyone's attention again.

"Sorry, Love-a-lot. But please, pay attention and at least act like you care. Okay. We're all going on this mission to help Science Bear. We leave for the Care-a-lot National Space Center to board _Happiness_ this afternoon." he said, "And that's final. We will learn more at the Space Center."

"Can we come too?" the cubs both squealed a little too loudly.

"Only as long as you are on your best behavior…" Tenderheart reminded them. He was glad that they had put their paws up earlier.

"We will be!" They then dismissed themselves, with Hugs' space ship zooming after the astronaut.

"I will keep a stellar eye on them." Grams said with a wink.

The Care Bears cleaned up the Hall of Hearts, and packed PJs, blankets and anything else they would want on _Happiness_ to remind them of home while they were travelling. They could only bring one bag aboard, and Love-a-lot complained about this so loudly that everyone could hear it upstairs.

"But how am I going to get all of my make up in one bag? Explain that, Tenderheart!" she screamed. Wish winced at her harshness, and wondered why she was making such a big deal of every little thing.

"Ugh. Why is she doing this… we have more important— uh, more scientific things to worry about!" Wish said to herself as she finished packing the last of her wishing stuff into her Mary Poppins style bag. No one told her she couldn't bring it. Besides, it was just _one_ bag. Weight didn't matter to it, she could put anything inside.

"And I want to bring my vanity!" Love-a-lot wailed.

Wish had enough. She zipped up her bag, now that everything was inside. She stomped over to Love-a-lot's bedroom.

"This is a mission of scientific and caring importance!" Wish said, barging into Love-a-lot's room, and found Tenderheart splattered with a rainbow of make-up and he glittered too. He blinked at her with surprise. Wish gave him a strange look, but all he wanted was for her to help him.

"Forget the make-up, or bring just what you absoultely need!" Wish crossed her arms.

"How long is this voyage?" she asked.

"A few weeks, a month maybe." Tenderheart said, "It will be a week to get there, a week to come back. And we spend seven days there."

"Oh, that's too long! I need all of my make-up, Wish Bear!"

Wish rolled her eyes. Love-a-lot tried forcing a bag close, but of course, was having no luck at all. It was jammed packed, and bursting at the seams with pink scarves, slippers and nightgowns. Then Wish came up with a solution. Wish herself didn't personally like it, but it was the only reasonable thing she could come up with.

"I'll wish your make-up when you need it." she said, finally.

"Really? But… it won't be the same as _mine_."

"Do you want my offer, or no make-up at all on the ship?" Wish said.

"Teddy bear, why aren't you helping me out?"

"Look at the mess I'm in!" he said, showing her how much make-up and glitter was on him. He tried wiping it off, but that only made it worse.

"Oh boy. You really need to learn how to do your make-up right. It's quite a disaster. And fine, Wish Bear, I'll take your offer. But I'm not going to be happy." she said, "You have no idea how much I love my make up."

"I do, actually. Forget the make up and accessories, you only need PJs."

"Fine. Miss bossy. Get out of my room! Both of you! Geesh, can't a girl have some breathing room while she packs?" she pushed both of them out.

"She's really a pawful." Tenderheart sighed quietly so Love-a-lot couldn't hear. Love-a-lot was playing some loud and annoying pop music while she packed and Wish wanted to back away from her door as much as she could.

"I can wish that off you if you want. You look like a messy rainbow smoothie." she offered.

"Thank you, but I think I can handle this mess. Besides, I have a feeling I should be fresh and clean before our trip to the Space Center." Tenderheart said, and rushed off to the bathroom.

Then Wish went to go see how Funshine was doing with his packing.

"What was all that yelling?" Funshine asked, scratching his head, "Love-a-lot getting into a make-up fit again?"

"Yeah. She wanted to bring all her make-up, and her vanity. I told her I'd wish her up her make-up on the voyage."

"Oh. Hey, are you using that Mary Poppins bag?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah but I don't want to abuse it." she poked his shoulder.

"Aw, I was just wondering if you could squeeze in my Wii device…"

Wish laughed kindly and said, "I don't think there'll be time for that."

"Oh well it was worth the shot. Ready for a _stellar_ adventure? To boldly go where no Care Bear has gone before?" he asked and tickled her.

"Ha ha ha ha, yes I am!" she pushed way from him, after she ruffled his yellow hair. It was so much easier to hang out with Funshine than it was with Love-a-lot.

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, one that she found herself starry-eyed over. It was sweet and soft and filled with pure happiness. She kissed him back the same way, and then she skipped away to lock her room up and bring her bag downstairs.

The Care Bears got all packed up, then had a quick sandwich lunch, and were all ready to go. They hopped into their cloud cars. Wish, Funshine, Bedtime, and Cheer all shared one cloud car and everyone followed Tenderheart. Tenderheart shared a car with Love-a-lot, Grams, and the two cubs. Share, Friend, Good Luck, and Grumpy were in another. Then they turned on the radio, and followed Tenderheart to the Care-a-lot National Space Center.


	2. The Space Center

CHAPTER 2: THE SPACE CENTER

The Care Bears arrived at the Care-a-lot National Space Center a great many hours later, late in the evening. The drive had been peaceful but incredibly long, and everyone had to switch drivers a few times. They only stopped a few times to switch and grab snacks at gas stations along the way. They didn't get lost, as Tenderheart knew exactly by heart how to get to the Space Center.

Wish Bear and the others had been here many times before, and flown in a space ship, so they wouldn't need any training. It would be just as easy as boarding and flying an airplane.

The atmosphere was full of excitement, and Wish could hardly contain her happiness. She loved coming to the Space Center so much.

"I can't believe we're here!" she said and jumped up and down, sort of feeling like Hugs and Tugs, who still had their paws on the rocket ship and astronaut toys.

"And we have officially landed back on the Space Center!" Hugs said, "Wish, want to take off with us? We're going on another mission!"

Before she could agree, Funshine swiped Hugs' rocket and threw it up in the air as high as he could.

"Hey!" she wailed, "Grams! Funshwine took my rocket!"

"Why'd you do that?" Tugs growled and ran into Funshine quite aggressively.

"Sorry, your take off was scheduled earlier than planned. It's going to come back down for a landing! Look! It's right over there." He laughed, pointing.

The foam rocket plopped down on the ground and bounced a few feet away.

"I'm the captain of that rocket and I didn't even get to say 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BLAST OFF!" she yowled, "You're a meany pants!"

"Hey, hey, I was just playing. Sorry, Captain."

"Yeah, that's right mister. You take the orders from me!" Hugs poked her chest proudly.

"Alright cubs, let's settle down. Don't take your games so seriously." Grams said, coming to the rescue.

Everyone was busy getting their bags out of the car, and some Bears were walking to the Center already. The rest of the group caught up with them and headed inside to the Space Flight Facility.

Then, someone came into greet them. It was Space Star Bear, who was responsible for starting the mission. His fur was a dreamy midnight blue, and his symbol was a half blue moon and a half yellow sun put together. He had little accent stars around them as well.

"Welcome to the Space Flight Facility. My name is Space Star Bear. Thank you so much for receiving my urgent notice. This mission is very important." he said, with a very authoritive voice.

All the Care Bears greeted him, and then followed his lead to the Spaceship Hangar, where they kept all the ships that Care-a-lot owned. As they walked down the tiled hallway, they got to see some rooms where they were repairing some ships. The deeper they went into the building the louder the buzz became.

"We're almost there. And you'll be taking _Happiness,_ our fastest ship yet. She has all the latest equipment and technology needed for a comfortable ride." said Space Star Bear, who kept the pace up at a good speed. Wish liked how he was calm and professional all at once.

Then Space Star Bear opened a door to the hangar at the end of the long hallway, and Space Star Bear took everyone inside. They were introduced to their starship, and it was quite a beauty. It was different than _Friendship_ or _Tranquility,_ the previous ones they had used for traveling in space. This one was sleek and had a friendly look to it, and it honestly looked a bit like Hugs' rocket toy.

Either way, it was a dazzling ship and all the Care Bears were surprised by it. It was a mix of _Friendship_ and _Tranquility_ but it had a voice and look of its own. It had a long neck and a heart-shaped cockpit above it, which was where the wheel was. Then the middle was quite big, just enough to hold the whole Care Bear family, and looked like a cloud. It had wonderful engines, and was decorated with rainbow accents. There was also a big engine on the back in the shape of a star.

"Oh my stars, I can't wait to fly!" Wish said, running around the whole ship, looking at the details, as the cubs trailed behind her.

"Looks like we have a spaceship enthusiast." Space Star Bear told Funshine Bear.

"Yup, you're completely right about that." he told him.

"Please everyone, let's go inside and take a tour. Then I will let you in on the mission details, and you can take off first thing tomorrow morning."

"But shouldn't we leave now?" asked Hugs, who poked at Space Star's side.

"Oh you want to have plenty of rest for space travel, Hugs Cub." he said.

"But I want to say BLAST OFF!"

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! INCOMING ASTRONAUT!" Tugs boomed and made some sci-fi tumbling noises with the astronaut, and then made the toy astronaut crash into Space Star's side somewhat violently.

He jumped away nervously.

"Looks like you made contact!" said Space Star Bear.

"Come on cubs, keep your games away from Mr. Space Star while he's showing us around. Let's put the game on hold until we're inside and flying in space." Grams said and struggled to get the cubs under control again.

"But we just landed on a new planet!" pouted Tugs, trying to make the astronaut crawl all over Space Star, "We were about do discover a fantastic new form of life!"

"Let's get the tour going, then, shall we?" he said nervously, and Tenderheart took away the cubs toys, promising he'd give them back soon.

They went inside _Happiness,_ and entered through the bay doors in the front of the cloud part of the ship. They were each showed to their rooms, and dropped their bags off inside. Then they went to the cockpit, and decided whom the pilot would be. It ended up being Funshine, but he could have shifts, so there would be really 3 pilots. Then they decided on everyone else's role.

Tenderheart was automatically Captain without any questions asked. Good Luck was co-pilot, and Share was assistant pilot as well as a medical aid. Friend was in charge of the engines and fuel supply; Love-a-lot was in charge of communications.

Cheer was responsible for cooking and dishwashing, and Grams would help her with that too. Grumpy got stuck with cleaning duty, Bedtime was in charge of keeping everyone's sleeping quarters in order, and an assistant to Share, Friend and Wish Bear — though everyone secretly knew Bedtime would be taking a nap after he got used to being in space.

Wish was in charge of the science department and being a pair of eyes in the scout's nest. The cubs could stick with Grams or keep their eye out for anyone who wasn't doing their job.

When they were all done sorting out jobs and duties, the Care Bears and Space Star Bear went back into the Flight Facility, and discussed the very important details of the mission. Grams and the cubs were given another tour by a friendly guide Bear that Wish Bear forgot the name of already.

They were all in a professional looking conference room, and there were candies in little jars, as well as a piece of paper and a pen in front of everyone's seat also accompanied by a fresh glass of water. Funshine was already showing complete interest in the candy jar. Everyone sat where they wanted to. Wish, Tenderheart, and Funshine sat near the front, closest to Space Star Bear.

"Now that we all know what we are doing aboard the ship, I will explain to you the details and logistics of this important mission." he said, and started his presentation.

Basically the Evil Bears had attacked Science Bear's Space Cube because he was producing new technologies that would make Care-a-lot stronger. They wanted him to stop, so they destroyed a part of his Cube. This stopped production for a few days, but then Science Bear was up and running again.

Either way, the Evil Bears were preparing for another attack and the Care Bears needed to be there to assist Science Bear until the Evil Bears would leave him alone to work in peace.

"They'll be attacking again about a day after you arrive there, so in 8 days. You must be on time if you want to save Science Bear. If you don't, not only Care-a-lot, but the whole Caring Universe as we know it will be at risk for destruction. And then who will stop them from hurting earth?"

Now Wish knew why they really had to go. They couldn't let the Evil Bears win. They probably saw this as a way to destroy all the Caring Universe, starting with the Cube that made everything stronger and more advanced. Wish trembled, and Funshine stopped eating his candy to hold her paw to comfort her.

"It's going to be okay. I know we can kick their furry butts." Funshine whispered to her.

She nodded, but didn't say anything in return. She needed to pay attention to everything Space Star Bear said.

"If you return from this mission successfully, you will be not only national but universal heroes." Space Star said, thus ending his presentation, "Care Bears, we are all counting on you."

"Are we going to be enough to defeat the Evil Bears?" Wish asked, unable to stop the question as she looked around the table at her small family.

"The Evil Bears Army maybe huge in numbers but it is low in hearts that care." Space Star said, "I believe you are all enough to save the Space Cube and Care-a-lot. Besides, you've saved Care-a-lot from evil countless times. This shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you Space Star, would you mind if I said a few words, please?" Tenderheart said.

"Why of course. Go ahead." replied Space Heart.

"We will do this together as a family. Together we will fight for Care-a-lot!" Tenderheart said, lifting the doubts Wish Bear had placed on everyone.

"For Care-a-lot!" They all chanted and Funshine got everyone to pound their paws on the table. Soon the cheer was over, and without a doubt, they were going on the mission first thing tomorrow morning after breakfast.

For now though, the Care Bear family went to dinner in the Space Center's cafe. Grams and the cubs joined up soon after everyone arrived, and everyone could have whatever they wanted. Wish, Cheer, Funshine, and Bedtime all sat at the same table and ate their dinner.

"Ah, this will be our last dinner in Care-a-lot for three weeks. Enjoy it!" Funshine said before they sat down.

"I thought you were more cheerful." Wish said.

"What? We're coming back." Funshine said, eating his mac'n'cheese and chicken nuggets.

Cheer was having a salad, and Bedtime was trying not to fall asleep in his ravioli. But he was more awake than he was during the day. He actually was waking up more and more due to the fact the sun had completely gone down and it was dark outside. Wish Bear was eating a taco meal with a side of cut star fruit. It was a weird mix, but she might as well savor all she could.

Soon a lively dinner was over, and everyone was full. The cubs had room for desert, which was space-themed cupcakes. Once they were done with dinner, they had an hour of downtime, of which they could do whatever they pleased as long as they stayed at the Space Center. Wish and Funshine held each other's paws and went next door to the Stellar Observatory, and watched the stars through the big telescope.

They still had a few hours before it was time to go to sleep, so everyone was shown the coordinates on a map and the route they would be taking on a map. Wish wondered why they hadn't done this earlier, but it was better than not being told at all. They went over the small details of everyone's duties, but the Care Bears were experienced with them already so then Space Star just dismissed them to go to the guest hotel.

At the hotel, they spent some time in the pool, and then it was time to head off to bed. Everyone had their separate rooms, and fell asleep peacefully.

Tomorrow they would be one paw-step closer to help Science Bear.


	3. Into Space

CHAPTER 3: INTO SPACE

Today was the day! Wish leapt out of bed and didn't even have to rub her eyes. She ran down the hall and wondered where to go next. She exited the hotel and found her way in the morning light to the Space Flight Facility. Unfortunately, she wasn't prepared for the news reporters who were crowding the front entrance, waiting for the Care Bears by talking to the Care-a-lot National Space Center Media Bears. Wish was just about to wish herself invisible, but it was too late. The Bears with their mikes already noticed her and everyone beckoned her to come over and answer some questions. Reluctantly, she found herself in the spotlight.

"How do you feel about going to save Science Bear?" asked a random Bear from the crowd.

"I feel honored to help a Bear in need." she said simply.

The Media/Press Bears nodded at her, telling her she was doing a great job with simple answers and she should keep going.

"What is your duty aboard the ship?"

"I am in charge of science and making sure we're safe." she replied, getting bored with the bombardment of questions already.

"Are you ready to go stop the Evil Bears?" they asked.

"I'll do anything within my power to stop them and fight for Care-a-lot!" she said raising her fist triumphantly, suddenly feeling exhausted even though she was only asked three questions. She kept a fake smile on so no one knew her true feelings.

Then, Funshine Bear came to save her from the spotlight and he threw some funny answers at the reporters. "Go inside and eat. I'll handle them." He whispered to Wish Bear, who went inside the Facility to eat her breakfast.

There she ate and a few Care Bears came in, and then the rest of her family showed up. They had been clearly been asked questions and the cubs were caring less about the reporters. Somehow they had gotten their toys back and were busy pretending to be on extraterrestrial voyages.

Once everyone made it past the reporters, Space Star came and apologized for the large crowd. It was ok, because soon everyone was done eating. It was a rather fast breakfast, but soon they had to get going.

They went to the Launch Pad, and went inside the ship and strapped down in their seats in the cockpit. Funshine, Share, and Good Luck all got in their seats in behind _Happiness's_ wheels, and got ready for launch.

"Blast off!" Hugs and Tugs kept chanting.

"Hush you two. We have to wait for the real blast off." Grams warned.

After a few minutes of double-checking everything, they awaited Space Star's count down.

"Is everyone strapped in and ready?" Space Star asked through the communications.

"Everyone is strapped in and ready for flight, roger that!" Love-a-lot replied once Tenderheart gave her the ok-go.

"Thank you, Love-a-lot. We are preparing the launch sequence."

"Blast off!" Hugs and Tugs said again.

"No, not yet." Tenderheart strictly informed the cubs. They did this every time.

The engines suddenly came to life, which made Wish clutch to her chair. Sure, she had taken many flights before, but it was just instinct to hold on to something. She almost wished that Funshine were sitting next to her and holding her paw instead of flying _Happiness._ She missed him even though he was only a few feet away from her.

Then the countdown began.

"10

9

8

7

6

"5, 4…"

"3, 2…"

1 and BLAST OFF!" Space Star said. The cubs squirmed excitedly in their seats and screamed _Blast Off_ repeatedly until they were high up in the air. The engines rumbled like thunder and soon the Care Bears took off into space.

A few minutes later, Funshine told them when they were out of Care-a-lot's atmosphere safely.

"And now every Bear, welcome to space – the final frontier!" he announced.

Everyone cheered.

"We're on our way, Science Bear!" Wish said.

Momentarily, everyone could get out of their seats. There was no gravity so everyone was floating around and having fun. But the cubs were soaring everywhere, and needed to be controlled, because Hugs almost kicked Funshine unintentionally in the head.

"Hey! Can everyone stop floating around in here? You're making me miss out on all the fun!"

Everyone besides Tenderheart and Funshine left the cockpit and went to go to their duties and to escape the wrath of Hugs and Tugs' rocket and astronaut toys.

"Alright every Bear, let's get to our duties! There are lots of things to do!" Tenderheart called to them through the ship's speakers.

Wish extremely disliked being away from Funshine, but understood his important role in the crew. She had her own duties to attend to as well. She couldn't wait to reach the Space Cube!


	4. Beyond the Asteroids

One week later, Wish was on duty up in the lookout's nest, keeping an eye out for danger when she spotted peril up ahead. The Care Bears were in front of the Space Cube, which could be seen in the distance. They were approaching them rather quickly. It took her a moment to realize what the hazardous objects were. _Asteroids!_

"A whole belt of them!" she gasped, "Oh my stars. I'd better warn everyone, and quick!"

Wish radioed up to the cockpit, and told Tenderheart and Share about the asteroid belt up ahead.

"Thanks for your stellar eyes, Wish. We almost missed them." Tenderheart replied.

"Should I stay up here?" she asked.

"Come on down to the cockpit, I have a feeling nobody will follow us here."

Wish bolted down to the cockpit, where Share was piloting. It was Funshine's shift a few hours ago, and his last one until it was time to back to Care-a-lot when they finished the mission. Honestly she was scared they wouldn't make it if Share was piloting. Share was good at piloting, but Funshine was better. She felt safer when Funshine was flying.

"Can we get through them?"

"I have a feeling we will." Share replied with a nod. Tenderheart warned everyone they were about to pass through an asteroid belt and should get strapped down in the nearest seat. Wish did, and felt herself wanting to cry. What if they didn't make it through? They were almost to the Cube. Then they'd be no good at helping Science Bear and they couldn't save Care-a-lot.

"We'll be fine. Let's go to the Space Cube!" Tender Heart said.

They sped forward into space, into the asteroid belt. Could they make it? Wish hoped so — and she was so tempted to wish for their safety but was too scared to even make the wish. If only Funshine were in the cockpit then she would feel so much better… unfortunately he wasn't flying.

At first everything was going smoothly. Share was doing a nice job of missing the asteroids and flying steadily.

But that was when they were at the edge of the asteroid belt. The more they traveled, the more asteroids there were, and the bigger they got. Why did Science Bear have to have his Cube surrounded by an asteroid belt? Now they were nearing the center of the belt, and Wish could feel her heart pounding out of control.

"Shouldn't Funshine be flying this thing?" she wailed.

"I'm doing my best!" Share said, as Wish's fear didn't help her at all.

"Funshine is sleeping, Wish. He needs his rest."

"Well, he's going to have to wake up once we're at the Cube." she pointed out.

"He can wake up when we get there. Every minute counts. You care about him, don't you?"

This made her stop talking. She did, honestly, but she felt slightly hurt by Tenderheart's words. She was a bunch of nerves right now.

Then an asteroid hit their ship!

Wish shouted with alarm, but the asteroid bounced off.

"We're okay!" Tenderheart said, but Wish was silently crying. What if their ship fell apart? She was not handling this at all well. Space was supposed to be her area of expertise!

 _Get yourself together;_ she thought to herself, _pretend Funshine is with you._

Then another asteroid dinked their windshield, one about the size of a baseball, and it made a spider web of cracks, but nothing broke, to everyone's relief. Wish didn't shout that time, and instead kept her emotions and feelings inside. They just hardly flew past a huge one, about as big as a school-bus, and then they passed through the most of the danger.

Once they were coming out through the asteroid field, another one hit the left side of the ship, but caused minimal damage.

Now they passed through the asteroid belt completely, and everyone cheered! They would be at the Cube within an hour. Every Bear got up and went back to his or her duties. Wish wanted to go find Funshine, but instead she went to seek Cheer Bear. Certainly her friend would cheer her up.

Cheer was in the kitchen scrubbing down the counters with a star-shaped sponge, and Grams was counting how much food was left in stock. The cubs were in the room too, playing with their rocket and astronaut toys. Wish was honestly glad those were the only toys they brought with.

"I need to talk to you." Wish begged.

"Okay." Cheer said, "I'm all ears."

She kept it down so the Cubs wouldn't be able to hear.

"I kind of freaked out when we went through the asteroid field." Wish said, "Funshine wasn't there."

"He's sleeping." Cheer said.

"Don't you care about how I felt? I was so scared! I thought we were going to break apart."

"Well, we didn't, did we? Everything's fine." Cheer smiled at Wish, and tossed the sponge into the sink.

"Thanks for caring." Wish said sarcastically and stomped off. It was clear she wasn't getting the support she was looking for.

Just as she was about to burst in tears as she was looking for Funshine's room, she bumped right into him!

"Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed, bracing herself against him, unable to stop her tears from falling.

"What just happened?"

"We went through an asteroid belt. I was so scared since you weren't flying." She wiped her tears away.

"Really? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought everything would be okay if I went to sleep…" he said and hugged her. She warmed up instantly and felt herself calming down.

"Thanks." she said, "I needed that. I tried talking to Cheer, but she didn't care."

"Ouch, that's harsh. I'm so sorry I wasn't there with you. Hey, I'll see you later when we're at the Cube. I wanna get a snack."

They let go and then Wish went to the lookout, and Funshine went to the cafe.

After the hour crawled by, they finally approached the Cube. Wish came down from the lookout yet again, but this time was feeling much better. Cheer came and bumped into her on the way up to the cockpit.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I should've paid more attention. I don't know why I did that."

"You were busy. I shouldn't have bothered you. Funshine bumped into me a minute after I left."

"You two really are made for each other, huh? Well. A sun is a star in a way. Let's go look at the Cube, shall we?"

Now that they had repaired their friendship, they went to look at the Cube. Wish Bear felt a lot better.

Love-a-lot and Tenderheart were the only ones in the cockpit. The rest of the Bears were down in the cloud-part of the ship, waiting for the bay doors to open and to watch the Cube epically spread out before them.

Wish had seen documentaries about the Science Cube, and had a rough idea of it. She knew there were almost 1,000 levels with almost every kind of serious science imaginable. Science Bear and his employees built this Cube over a period of a whole seemingly impossible couple of years. It was every scientist's dream to work in Science Bear's Space Cube.

Science Bear worked on epic projects like making robots, and miniscule developments like testing calculators that could do any kind of high-level math. Wish remembered that Science Bear loved astronomy, physics, chemistry and botany. All other areas of science interested him as well, but he wasn't a pro in the other areas. All day he would search for discoveries, make discoveries, or help others of his elite team of scientists discover things. He was like the father of science. There was no term in the field he didn't know. You could ask him practically anything and he could explain it to you without a doubt. It was almost like he was a walking encyclopedia of everything science.

He was a brilliant mathematician too, all those sciences required it. He was well studied and even founded a few universities of science in different places around the Caring Universe. If he had any time, he taught students as well at the Cube.

Tenderheart opened the bay doors, and the Cube spread out before them. They were currently in the spaceship docking area, where there were lots of personal ships for employees, but they were currently being unused.

Right in front of the bay doors was the great Bear of science himself!

Science Bear was a neon-green Bear, with a flask that was half-full of blue liquid and surrounding the flask there were little heart and star-shaped bubbles. He had a white scientist lab coat on, and some safety goggles were covering his eyebrows, as if the Care Bears had just interrupted one of his experiments. He was also wearing strange boots.

"Welcome to my Science Cube, every Bear!" he said warmly, and with big open arms.

They all said hello and Science Bear gave everyone the facts of the Cube, the ones that Wish already knew. They kept the ship's doors open as they walked away. Already, they completely trusted Science Bear and his employees.

Before them lay the biggest laboratory imaginable. Since the Cube was a perfect 1x1x1 mile, the inside was a perfect square. The cloudy walls were about 100 feet thick, with rainbow supports hidden on the insides to keep the cube sturdy.

"Here you'll find every study going on around the clock. We study everything from the atom, to the mysteries of the universe itself. Oh, and we make virtual reality headgear! Don't worry, that still has a long way to go." Science Bear said.

He was the perfect mix of serious and humor. You could tell right off the bat he wanted to use his science to help the Caring Universe, without him even having to tell you.

"Oh, your caring meter is so out of date. You need not only to see how much caring is in your land, but how much evil is in the land too." he said, as they walked by a team of scientists who were working on caring meter blueprints. They didn't look up as they were so soaked into their work.

"This is so amazing…" Wish said under her breath, wanting to squeal with pure joy.

"And don't forget, this is only the first level. The exact number of levels in this Cube is 999. Rooms… well I do have count of them but that number is not important. Anyway, you all came to see this universal wonder, am I correct?"

"Actually we came to help you."

"Oh, I see. Well, if you want to help, you're going to have to know the grounds first and foremost." Science Bear said promptly, "Let's get started with a tour, eh? First thing's first. You're gonna need rocket boots!"

"Rocket boots?" Wish eyed Funshine who was right next to her now.

"Yeah! Rocket boots!" Funshine pumped his fist in the air like he was at a concert.

The Care Bears went to a room and each got on some rocket boots that would help with traveling. This was how Science Bear got around normally. To Wish, these seemed like toys some spoiled rich cub would have for their birthday present.

"Let's get started, every Bear!" Science Bear encouraged everyone once they were all done tying their boots, "Who wants to see the Science Cube from the inside like you've never seen it before?"


	5. Wonders of Science

Every 10 levels, the subject that was being studied changed. It was so mind-bogglingly gigantic that Wish wondered how Science Bear never forgot where one level was. Every tool imaginable was in each level, no questions asked. Everything was top-notch and high quality, and no expense was wasted.

Wish was completely star-struck by the whole experience. Seeing a documentary of the place was one thing… being in it was like being a cub in a candy shop. So many questions bubbled up in her mind that she didn't know where to start. She would have to write them all down and ask Science Bear. She wanted to know _everything_.

"Having fun?" Funshine asked her and rubbed her shoulder.

"Yes!" she said, smiling and jittering like she had a sugar-high, "I have so many questions for Science Bear!"

"Couldn't you wish to know them?"

"Yeah, but then it wouldn't be as fun hearing the answers from an expert." she said as they passed another table filled to the brim with plants you could actually see growing. If she smiled any bigger, her cheeks would hurt.

There were Bears of every color working at each table and rushing back and forth on their rocket boots. They wore white or pale blue lab coats, and goggles, like Science Bear was wearing but they each had a tag with their name on it and a symbol that indicated what department they were in. Everyone had pens and pencils in their pockets. Some Bears were carrying flasks and other measuring tools back and forth to different stations. Wish wondered what it would be like to work here.

"This is the universe's biggest hub for all things under the name of science. I will be taking questions at the end of the tour, and will answer them the best I can. I expect that everyone has at least one thing they want to ask me."

"When do we get to see the secret projects? Are you studying alien bodies?" both the cubs asked.

"Secret projects? Aliens?" Science Bear asked in return, "Now that I would certainly like to see."

"Wait, there's no secret labs? Or aliens?" they asked, clearly disappointed.

"Nope. Everything here is approved by the Care-a-lot National Space Center Safety Regulations." he said, and when Wish looked at him, he was being very honest, "However, we don't tell the public everything we do here."

Both the cubs went wide-eyed with wonder.

"Like what?"

"That I can't tell you. Let's continue with the tour, shall we?"

So they kept going. Wish's favorite levels were coming up soon, there were at least 10 levels dedicated to astronomy and other stellar and extraterrestrial studies. Wish could hardly contain her excitement and walked next to Science Bear the whole time. She didn't even mind being away from Funshine Bear. Then, Science Bear introduced them to a new Bear.

This Bear was metallic purple and had stars on his fur, and his symbol was a bunch of stars made into a heart-shaped constellation. He had starry twinkles in his eyes and wore a fancy lab coat and had rocket boots like Science Bear's.

"Well, here you have the best of the best of the astronomy Bears. Cosmic Light Bear, these are the Care Bears. Why don't you tell them about yourself?"

"Thank you for the stellar introduction, Science Bear. I am head of the astronomy department, and I keep track of all projects. I also make sure everything is updated, and I work with the elite scientists of this field. I have been studying the stars and space ever since I was a little cub. I come from the Starry Islands, where the skies are perfect for gazing upon." Cosmic Light said.

"Now, since you are my most trusted Astronomer, I might have to have your help later with our Evil Bear problem. That's why the Care Bears are here, too." Science Bear introduced the Care Bears.

"Oh, of course I will help. Don't you have an official assistant though?"

"I do but she is running errands at the moment. She runs personal duties for me, like getting me coffee or anything else I ask of her."

"Who is your personal assistant?" Wish couldn't help but ask.

"She is my best friend, and her name is Helpful Heart Bear, and we will be meeting her after the tour is over. Lets move on, shall we? Oh, Cosmic Heart, would you be so kind as to tell the other three about the Care Bears and their mission to help us?"

"It would be my pleasure, Science Bear."

Then Cosmic Light departed, and the Care Bears and Science Bear continued on with their tour. They explored all the levels, which took all day. By the end everyone was exhausted and forgot to ask their questions. But they would remember them tomorrow. Then, Science Bear showed them to their personal quarters.

The sleeping quarters were almost just like the ones on the ship, small, but comfortable. The Bears all went to sleep after a much-needed dinner, which was enjoyed on Science Bear's personal level, at the very top of the cube.

After eight hours of sleep, Wish woke up feeling well rested and excited. She bolted out of her room and headed down to the dining area. The level was more homey looking than scientific, which was a nice break. The atmosphere was bright and friendly, and Science Bear and Helpful Heart were already up and at the table discussing plans for the day.

"Oh, hello Wish Bear. This is Helpful Heart, my assistant I told you about yesterday."

Helpful Heart was a neon orange female Bear, and she had a symbol with two hearts holding hands.

"Hello Helpful Heart." Wish said and waved.

"Warm greetings to you, Wish Bear. Where are the others?"

"Still sleeping, I guess."

"They'll be up soon. So yes, mark that down too. I'm going to need more meals for my guests at all the kitchens. It shouldn't matter too much because of all our employees." Science said to Helpful Heart.

"Alright. Got it. At all of them?"

"Oh, maybe just the first, middle and my personal level should be fine."

"Good. I will get that set up right away." Helpful Heart said, "Have a lovely rest of your day, Wish Bear. I'm certain I'll meet everyone soon."

"Glad to have met you."

Helpful Heart stood up and left the room with her clipboard. Science Bear was eating his breakfast at the table, and Wish got herself a plate at the buffet table not too far away. Wish got herself a plate of waffles, strawberries, blueberry yogurt and a chocolate chip muffin.

Then they ate together at the table for a few moments before Wish remembered her questions.

"So, Science Bear, can I ask you some questions?"

"Yes of course! I love questions."

"Well how come if you have so many employees, why did you need our help?"

"Oh. Well whenever there is evil, it can be defeated by caring. Science does not do so much damage to evil. I am a caring bear, but science is more of my specialty." he said, sipping his coffee.

Wish thought on his answer for a moment before asking him another question.

"I don't remember the news telling us why they attacked your Cube, is there a reason you think they attacked?"

"I am working on helping the Caring Universe, so that's a good of reason as any. Once they wanted me to do a bad job for them but I refused. It was worth a lot of money, but it would be an illegal offer…"

"Hmm. Okay. So then have you done anything to stop the Evil Bears from attacking again?"

"That's what I was hoping you and your family would do. That's why I called you. Well, Tenderheart specifically."

Wish had more questions, but then Care Bears started coming to get their breakfast and mostly everyone besides Grumpy and Bedtime greeted Science Bear warmly. The Cubs tried to play-attack him with their astronaut and rocket toys, but Grams pulled them away. The room got a lot louder and Wish knew she wouldn't be able to ask Science Bear questions until later.

"Hey Wish! There's space bacon!" Funshine laughed and waved some bacon in front of her face. She laughed lightly and pushed it away.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I was talking with Science Bear, that's all."

"Oh. What about? If he has an experiment that can make pigs fly yet?" he said, "Because I have!"

And he threw his bacon across the table, and it plopped right on Grumpy Bear's head. Things were not going to go well. Wish gasped.

"Funshine!" she said cautiously.

"FUNSHINE!" Grumpy yelled and said, "What is the meaning of this?"

"Eh, flying pigs?"

"I'm sick of your corny jokes! Stop throwing your food at me! Why does it always land on me?"

"Actually, it was bacon this time."

Grumpy gave him a look that suggested a thunderstorm wasn't too far off.

"Alright everyone, settle down please, and Funshine stop throwing your food. We don't need to be disrespectful to Science Bear. In fact, I want everyone to be on their best behavior from now on. We are here on a mission, and not here to play games." Tenderheart announced, and got everything under control easily.

"Sorry, Grumpy." Funshine said seriously, but he couldn't help but let a little giggle escape.

"I want nothing to do with you for the rest of the trip, Mr. Sunshine." he said, and crossed his arms and looked sharply away.

"You should really apologize to Grumpy later." Wish suggested, "Its not good for family to hurt each other's feelings."

"Okay fine. But it was funny, wasn't it?"

Wish didn't answer him, and continued to eat her chocolate chip muffin. Tenderheart sat next to Science Bear and asked him questions, more than Wish did. She listened in the best she could, but since the rest of the Care Bears had arrived, there was a lot of lively chatter – mostly about what they had all seen yesterday during the tour.

"So when are we going to be working on the core of the problem here?" Tenderheart was saying.

"Today, I hope. I am assembling my best scientists at the moment to see if there is anything extra we can do. I was thinking that we could train your Bears so they understand how my Cube works better. This will give us the advantage." Science Bear replied.

"Oh, that is a brilliant idea. I have a feeling you are one paw-step ahead of the Evil Bears."

"Actually I don't know about that. I don't know when they are going to attack next. It could be at any moment for all I know." Wish could see that his coffee mug was shaking in his paw. He was nervous.

"Don't you have a radar that detects evil?"

"I do, but it can't reach out that far. If it did detect evil, I wouldn't have much time to prepare for it."

"This is not what I hoped for." Tenderheart said, sighing, "Well, us Care Bears will do our absolute best to help you. I can assure you we'll defeat the Evil Bears with flying colors."

"That's assuring to know. Thank you. Now, I think I should tell everyone about the training."

Science Bear stood up and got out a projector and podium from the corner of the dining room. He set it up, and no one else noticed at first, but Wish kept an eye on Science Bear as he got ready to make his presentation. Wish then talked to Tenderheart.

"Training?" she asked.

"Yes. I assume you heard most of what we said."

"I did."

"Well, I have a good feeling Science Bear is right about the training program he has in mind. We could all use the most knowledge we can get."

"I agree."

Then Science Bear got everyone's attention by dinging a bell on the podium.

"Attention please. I would like your full and undivided support here. In order to prepare you to complete your mission, Tenderheart and I have agreed that there shall be a training segment for each of you."

There were lots of groans and gasps from some of the Bears who didn't volunteer to go on the mission. Wish however, was incredibly excited, and in fact, she was honored. She could be one of the Bears in the entire Caring Universe who would know almost everything about Science Bear's mysterious Space Cube! It was a wish come true.

"I bet you're all wondering what on Care-a-lot you've gotten yourself into. Don't worry though, you're in experienced and trusted paws. My Cube is a fragile thing, believe it or not. It looks mighty and we do have defenses, but none that match the Evil Bear's space ships. I think you all have seen the damage done to the side of the Cube on the news. I have Bears rebuilding it currently, half of my employees." he said, and showed them a slide with a picture of the devastating damage.

A whole side on the back of the cube was scarred and one segment was completely broken. There were still clouds of black and rainbow tinged smoke rolling out into space, which confused Wish but she understood there were lots of chemicals and natural elements inside the Space Cube. Pieces of cloud and rainbow material from the Cube itself were scattered nearby in space, but Bears were going out to collect it before it drifted away too far.

"So, in the training program you will learn my Cube's weaknesses and strengths, and even learn how to run our big machinery and defensive caring weapons. This is all necessary and important to know because the Evil Bears have no idea what my Cube is like on the inside. Once you know the grounds like the back of your paw, things will be easier and we can have some hope to defeat our enemy. Training will start today, and I will split you all into groups of three. Training will be 1 day long, because then we have to start coming up with a solution."

"We have to learn all of that in a single day?" Grumpy complained, and was completely outraged, seeing it as an impossible task.

"It is a lot to learn but I'm certain all of you will understand it easily enough. Please bear with me during the training. You Care Bears are the Caring Universe's hope, so everyone will be cheering for you every step of the way."

"There's a silver lining in every cloud." Good Luck Bear commented quietly.

"Now, training will start in a half an hour. Please decide on your groups and we will get started on our caring defense."

Wish Bear couldn't wait to get started on the training. Naturally, Funshine gravitated towards her.

"Want to be my partner, my shooting star?" he asked her.

"Of course! Now we just need a third counterpart…" Wish nodded, looking around for Cheer.

Cheer was down near the other end of the table, and waved when Wish looked at her. She bounced over to them.

"We're a team?" She asked.

"You bet!" Wish said. They high-fived.

"Alright! I wonder what we're going to do."

"Same here." Funshine said, "I hope there's something fun about this."

"But you volunteered, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but it's always good to have something fun in everything."

Wish didn't know about that, but smiled lightly. Then the Care Bears finished their breakfast, cleaned it up, and once all their teams were chosen they went down to the very first level with Science Bear.

Just as they were about to get started with the training, the blaring alarms sounded, which made Wish cover her ears. The cubs cried and wailed, which didn't help.

"What's going on?" Wish asked loudly.

"I don't know!" Science Bear shouted, as he furiously poked at his watch.

The sirens wailed and the Care Bears had no idea what to do. Wish stayed as calm as she could even though there were scientist Bears flying around on their rocket boots as fast as they could in random directions. She was about to wish that she could do something to help, when Helpful Heart Bear arrived.

"Sorry I took so long!" she said, wiping sweat off her brow, "An evil ship just flew past!"

"What?" Science Bear said over the wailing of sirens, since he couldn't hear her the first time.

"An evil ship just flew past! They know that the Care Bears are helping us!"


	6. Training

After the sirens stopped, Science Bear announced to the whole Cube that the Evil Bears made a fly-by, but with no damage. The Evil Bears came just as quickly as they left. It was a total surprise. When he came back, training was seriously in business.

"Alright Care Bears, each of your groups will be under instruction of one of my employees." he said, and directed them all to the caring turrets that were located inside the walls of the cube.

These turrets were everywhere, spaced evenly throughout the whole length of the mile long wall. There were employees working on them, either improving their performance or cleaning them up from the last use. Science Bear explained to everyone that they used caring energy only.

Then once they found a certain turret, of the employees went over the details of how to operate the machine.

Wish understood it easily. It was like an even more powerful Care Bears Stare. All you had to do was Stare into it, aim, and then pull the trigger. It was like playing the game Snood. The room the turret was in was small and tight and you could only move with a limited range.

Everyone went to a simulator and took turns shooting targets until they hit a target amount that was normal for employees. Wish and her team did a great job and hit all targets. Funshine did great, he just pretended it was an arcade game. It took Cheer multiple attempts to get the hang of shooting, but she soon got it before most of the other teams were done. They passed the first test with flying colors, just like Tenderheart said they would.

It was so easy Hugs and Tugs could do it, but they wouldn't be doing the real thing unless it was absolutely necessary.

Then they learned about the force field that they sometimes used – only to find it was broken and being repaired quickly. The force field was like one big Care Bear Stare, with pure caring energy that surrounded the Cube in an orb of protection. It was almost indestructible, but its main weakness was that it needed to recharge and super big attacks could break the shield.

He then showed them the limited supply of caring "bombs" which were orbs of caring energy that were glowing with rainbow color. They had quite a lot of caring bombs but having them was incredibly dangerous. They exploded upon touching evil. All you had to do to activate them was say "Sharing is Caring" and ka-boom!

Wish honestly thought Science Bear would have more weapons, since he was dangerously close to the Evil and Caring Universe border. Why he didn't have more, she didn't understand. This Cube should be stocked to the brim with defensive weapons!

"I can't believe he doesn't have more weapons." Wish told Cheer and Funshine.

"Neither does Care-a-lot, if you think of it. If it probably came to it, Science Bear could use his employees." Cheer said.

"Are you sure he would do something like that?" Wish was flabbergasted, and horrified.

"Probably not…" Funshine scratched his chin, and asked, "What else do you suppose this Cube holds?"

"Lots of money." Cheer said, "All his employees need their pay, so he's gotta have lots of it."

"And why do you think the Evil Bears would want caring currency? Its like using American money in Europe." Wish said, crossing her arms.

"Why did we have to come on this mission…" Cheer grumbled, and rubbed her forehead.

"Where is Science Bear?" Wish said, after they learned about the caring bombs.

"We're not done with our training, so why does it matter?" Funshine said.

"Well I don't know what we're supposed to do next! Maybe he knows. Maybe we can finally work on the plan. I'm gonna go find him."

Well she didn't need too. She practically turned around right into him, even though he was talking with Tenderheart, Good Luck and Grumpy about something.

She tapped his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, Wish. I was just about to go on to the next part of training." he said, "Let's get on with the next thing I have to show you. The shuttles." Science Bear said with an authoritive voice.

They followed him to the second level, which was where the shuttles were. The shuttles were little personal pods used for going out for small space missions or repairs – sort of like space cars or forklifts. They were equipped with caring guns and a mini force field with capacity that could be used up to ten minutes.

The Care Bears trained to fly the shuttles within the level, and generally everyone got it, even though they were difficult and challenging to handle at first. Wish found herself a wiz with all this science equipment and she didn't understand why. It should've been as difficult as learning to ride a bike for the first time without training wheels, but it wasn't.

Once everyone had their turn flying the shuttle around an obstacle course, Science Bear told them about their functions.

"These shuttles are used to go out into space and can transport material and passengers around the cube. They can also go out to the asteroid belt nearby and collect samples." he explained, "They are armed with caring shooters that can be used in case of emergencies."

"How long can they be used?" Wish asked.

"For two hours." Science Bear said without hesitation.

After the shuttles, it was time for lunch. They took a quick half hour break to eat on the 500th level, and then went back to training for the rest of the afternoon.

During the second half of their training, they learned about all the entrances and exits the Cube had. Mostly everyone just remembered the big and important ones, the one entrance where they had came in on _Happiness_ , Science Bear's rarely used personal escape exit, and the main cargo entrance.

Now they had to learn about the enemy, now that they knew what they were dealing with.

They were in a conference room; sort of like a professional meeting room a business would have – like the one in the National Space Center. Grams and the Cubs left the room to go have a snack. Once they were gone, Science Bear started his lecture.

"The Evil Bears fleet completely out numbers my employees, but the Evil Bears do have a weakness that I have seen in their previous attacks. They have a large group of ships that protect their leader, and then their fleet thins out on the outer fringes. They are like a hive of bees, and we need to destroy their Queen."

Wish raised her paw because she had an idea that didn't involve violence.

"Yes Wish Bear?"

"Shouldn't this battle be our last option?"

"What do you mean?"

"We're _Care_ Bears. We shouldn't be fighting. We should negotiate with them first – work it out diplomatically, perhaps."

"Oh. I understand what you mean there. We already tried that and it hasn't worked." Science Bear replied, shrugging.

"But surely we could try again. There has to be something more that they want other than a devastating battle."

"I agree with Wish Bear on this one." Tenderheart commented.

"They just want to destroy my Cube. I don't see how we could possibly work things out diplomatically." Science Bear waved his arms around.

"Wasn't there some technology they wanted?" Wish asked, "I suggest a compromise. Or what if we made something fake, but looked real, and gave it to them?"

"That wouldn't work. They'd be after me once they knew it was a fake." Science Bear said, "And then we'd have a battle for sure."

Silence hung in the air as everyone thought. Then Wish had another idea.

"Let's brainstorm and see what we come up with for a better solution."

Everyone brainstormed for fifteen minutes, and wrote their ideas down on the mini pads of paper that were on the table.

Wish had a couple ideas: trade for something, or compromise.

"Well, let's see what everyone has." Science Bear announced once the fifteen minutes were up.

Funshine proudly raised his paw and said, "I have a few ideas. Maybe we could host a comedy show to make them laugh their heads off and forget the whole thing. Or we could send them a gift – of custom fart cushions!"

Everyone stared hard at Funshine, as if they couldn't believe he had thought of that at this dark of a time. It clearly wouldn't work.

"Seriously?" Grumpy asked, "You think they would buy that? I wouldn't even buy that."

Funshine nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I tried, didn't I?"

"Alright you two, let's stop this and actually have ideas that do work."

"But it would be a fun show! I could tell jokes and we could have someone dress up as a clown—"

"Please stop it, Funshine…" Wish warned. Thankfully she was sitting next to him.

"What about we give them make up kits? They could use a good makeover anyway." Love-a-lot said, and everyone shook their heads.

"I suggest we send them a note." Share said, "And they could use a gift basket of cookies too. Can't go wrong with snikerdoodles."

"Share, you're doing it too." Tenderheart rolled his eyes.

"I have an idea." Wish said, "We could trade them something. Or just give it to them. And we could try to work something out like a deal to get them to stop attacking your Cube, Science Bear."

"What exactly do you propose? And didn't you just tell us that?"

"Well… anyway. But we could give them something… and maybe that would be enough to get them off our backs forever."

"It won't happen." Science Bear said.

"Could we try the diplomatic solution? I like that better. Maybe we can ask them what they want." Tenderheart asked, tired of all the talking.

"Okay, fine. We're going diplomatic. We'll phone them this evening. Hopefully they don't attack before paw."

Wish was glad that was settled. Hopefully they could complete this mission by tonight.

The Care Bears and Science Bear went to the communications center a few minutes later, which was a nearly empty room with a big flat screen TV-phone. There was a desk and speakers, and a few computers, which Bears were sitting at and working on.

"Well, lets make this call happen." Science Bear said to the Bears at the desks once he told them whom they were calling.

"Who is the leader of the army?" Wish asked quickly.

"It's Shrieky."

"Shrieky?" Wish grumbled, not surprised, "She would be."

"Who else did you expect?" Science Bear said.

Then the TV came to life, and on the screen were a Shrieky and Beastly.

"What are we negotiating?" Wish asked Science quietly.

"Tenderheart and I worked it out."

"Already?"

"Yes. Tenderheart knows how to deal with these things."

"Eww would you look at that, it's, Science Bear. Why have you called us? Are you willing to change your mind and give us what we want?" Shrieky said coldly.

"Hello, Shrieky. I was thinking we could work out some kind of deal that would please you."

"Huh. I'm listening. Are those the Care Bears with you?"

"Yes." Science Bear answered.

"Hah! Why do you need them? You can't handle us out here by yourself?"

"I'd rather not answer that. But please, we need to work out a deal so you can stop attacking my Cube."

Then Tenderheart stepped in.

"We want to give you something that will satisfy your craving for destruction. What do you want?"

"The whole Caring Universe destroyed!" said Shrieky. It was clear this negotiating was going to be very hard.

"There has to be something else you could want."

"Is Wish Bear there?" she asked, and this totally surprised her.

"Yes, she is."

"I want to talk with her."

Wish stepped forward from the crowd of her family. She stood next to Science Bear and Tenderheart. Was it just her, or was the floor shaking a little?

"Hi, Wish Bear here." she said and waved nervously.

"You're the one who can make wishes come true?" Shrieky asked.

"Um, yes."

"Perfect. Then I want three thousand wishes!" she laughed evilly.

"I'm afraid I can't give them to you if I don't know what they are."

"I just want three thousand wishes."

"It doesn't matter how many you want. I need to know what you're going to do with them." she said, "If you don't tell me then I can't give them to you."

"Whatever then. The deal is off."

"But we never even came up with anything!" Wish said, breaking a sweat, wanting to talk with her just a little longer. But they'd never get the chance.

Things were really going downhill. Shrieky stubbornly hung up.

"Wait!" everyone shouted once they realized what was happening.

Then a few seconds later, thunder seemed to boom in different places across the Cube. Sirens blared and wailed.

One of the Bears from the desks looked horrifyingly at Science Bear and said, "We're under a full-scale attack!"


	7. Defenders of Caring

The Evil Bears were attacking, and adrenaline pulsed through Wish Bear. The very stars began to shine in her. It was time to defend the Space Cube!

"To the turrets, everyone! Go, go, go! No time to waste!" shouted Science Bear.

Everyone rushed to the turrets, and began firing at the approaching ships. Wish wondered why Shrieky wanted three wishes. Wish had an unlimited supply of wishes. And why didn't Shrieky just tell her what she wanted? Also, Wish had no idea that Shrieky was the leader of the Evil Bears, but it made perfect sense.

The Care Bears continued to fire at the ships that were making hits on the Cube. Wish could feel the Cube crumbling. The alarms were still wailing, but were starting to die down. Everyone knew the Cube was under attack. She put every ounce of caring she had into the turret, but it seemed to do little damage. Then she had an idea.

Cheer and Funshine were on either side of her, in separate rooms. Quickly she left her turret, and hopped over to Cheer's.

"Hey, I have an idea!" she said quickly.

"Wish Bear! Why aren't you at your turret?"

"Because! Here, look at this." Wish said, and added her Stare into Cheer's turret. Cheer already had her turret nearly filled with her Stare.

"Rainbow-tastic! Double power!" Cheer said, realizing it, and firing her turret straight at an evil ship.

The Stare shot out into space, and hit the space ship with plenty of force that the ship crumbled to pieces.

"Perfect hit!" Wish said, "We gotta try it with Funshine!"

"All three of us?"

"Yup!"

Wish grabbed Cheer's paw, and they hurried over to Funshine's turret, even though the room was even more crowded. Cosmic Light Bear spotted them and tried to get their attention. "What in the name of the stars are you doing away from your turrets?" He shouted.

"Wish has a new idea!" Cheer answered.

"Hold on, let me shoot this guy!" he said, putting power into the turret.

Funshine shot the space ship, but not enough to cause serious damage. One of the wings was hit. It spiraled out of control and out of sight.

"Aww, I wanted to see him fall apart!"

"Come on, let's put all our power into the turret."

"What? Are you sure that's safe?" Funshine asked, wide-eyed.

"It's worth a try. Let's do this!" Wish said, and all three of them Stared into the turret.

Then a light blinked on the side of the shooter, and a strange beeping noise sounded.

WARNING: SYSTEM OVERLOAD – MAXIMUM CAPACITY REACHED

"Shoot it!" Wish said, as the turret was trembling, about to burst.

Funshine pulled the trigger, and when he did, multi-colored light blasted out to the enemy. He hit nine enemy targets all at once! Everyone gasped and cheered.

"Yahoo! Now that's better than fireworks!" Funshine whooped victoriously.

But it was only a small victory, as there was still an armada of enemies awaiting them. Science Bear came into the scene.

"What in the name of science are you three doing?"

"Making fireworks!" Funshine said, "Ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing!"

"You two should be at your turrets!" Science Bear said, "Cosmic Light Bear alerted me that you were not at your battle stations!"

"But the more caring energy we put into the turrets, the more strength comes out of it!" and then Wish's eyes widened. She knew how to defeat the enemy.

"We don't have a turret big enough!" Science Bear said, realizing the same thing.

"Can you make one?" she asked.

"Not fast enough!"

"Maybe I can wish for one!"

"That's cheating!" Cheer said, as Funshine continued firing. Though his energy was draining with each shot.

Wish grumbled. Cheer was right.

"Well we don't have a turret like these, but I do have a back up blaster that could take out the enemy in a couple of hits." Science Bear said, surprising everyone, "What? That was one of the things I couldn't tell you about because of the National Space Center. It should be our final attack."

"Oh." Wish nodded, that made sense, "Okay."

"Let's move on to the caring bombs!" Science Bear said, and they were handed bombs to put inside the turrets.

Each of them returned to their own turret to fire the bombs out into space against the enemy. However, the Cube suffered a huge blast and the power flashed out!

"Get that power back on!" Science Bear ordered. The enemy bombarded them with shots for a few minutes while they were in the dark.

Several heartbeats later, the lights turned back on! Wish sighed with relief, and started shooting bombs out again.

She shot about 20 bombs, and hit 18 targets. The ships were flying around like crazy, and it was a bit of a challenge to keep up her speed.

 _Keep it up, Wish Bear! You're doing this for Care-a-lot,_ she thought.

Wish Bear spotted the "Mothership", or Shrieky's space ship, at the center of the fleet. It was spiky, twisted, miles long, and most certainly ugly. Then, she noticed an odd thing going on with the smaller ships. They were forming a gap, a lane per say, right in front of the Mothership. Wish knew what was going to happen. There was going to be one big blast!

"Science Bear!" She screamed, trying to warn him.

"What is it?" he shouted back, coming to her aid.

"They're going to fire something big at us! It can't be good!"

"Someone please enable the force field! Quickly!" he stepped out of the room and yelled to anyone who would hear him.

The force field started up in a few seconds, just as the enemy was preparing their weapon.

"Don't shoot!" Science Bear ordered everyone.

Then the big blast was shot at them, an ugly red and purple ray of neon light. It completely shattered the force field on impact, and did some damage to the Cube. Thankfully, the force field had protected them from even more harm. Everyone felt it, and everyone's spirits sank. It was like there was a hurricane hitting the Cube. The Cube was pushed over a couple hundred feet in space.

"I have an idea." Science Bear said, "They'll leave us alone if they think we're broken enough."

So they let the power fail, and the turrets drooped sadly.

"Hey! What are we doing?" Funshine asked, trying to shoot but nothing was happening.

"Helping ourselves out. We need to fool them and think they've won. Then they'll go home and we can have more time to prepare." Science Bear said.

"Smart thinking."

They turned off the main power, got everyone who was outside to come in, and waited for the enemy to leave. At first, they didn't.

"What are they waiting for? Do you think they're going to fall for it?" Wish grumbled as they looked out the window. She trembled, but tried not to let it show.

"Let's hope so." Science Bear said.

Silence filled the Cube. The stars pulsed in Wish's ears. She held Funshine's paw.

 _Come on, come on, come on!_ she begged.

Then the Mothership turned around as if to head home. Everyone sighed. But then, it fired another big shot, not equally as big as the first, but just for good measure. Thunder boomed everywhere, and everything trembled. Wish, Cheer and Funshine clung to each other nervously, teeth chattering.

"That was completely unexpected and unnecessary." Science Bear stated, crossing his arms.

This time, the Mothership finally turned away for good, and disappeared in a flash. The three of them let go, but Wish just wanted to stay in Funshine's arms forever.

"Well, looks like there's still work to be done. We're going on back up power. Hopefully they don't think to contact us."

"Hopefully they don't think at all." Funshine grumbled.

"That's not likely…" Cheer added, but lightly. Everyone was worn out from the battle.

They were about to follow Science Bear. Somehow, Hugs and Tugs had found them and they were sobbing, clinging to Grams Bear.

"We wanna see Tenderheart!" they wailed.

Tenderheart came to their sides and hugged them.

"Everything will be okay. I bet that was scary to experience, wasn't it?"

"Yeah! We were under attack from scary space aliens!" Tugs said, wiping his nose.

"Well you're not far from the truth there." Science Bear said, wiping sweat off his brow.

"They were going to abduct me!" Hugs cried.

Then the lights flickered faintly, but it was just enough for Wish Bear to notice. Already the lights were much dimmer than before, since they were on back up power.

"It was like a big bad thunderstorm." Hugs sniffled.

"We're going to do better the next time." Tenderheart promised.

Wish agreed with him. She wasn't too afraid of the bad guys now that she knew what they could do. With Funshine standing next to her, there was no way she would cry.

"So, what do we do now?" Tender Heart asked.

"Prepare for the next attack."

"I wanna take a nap." Baby Tugs said.

"You go right ahead." Tenderheart replied.

Grams took the cubs to the personal chambers for naptime. Wish let out a sigh of relief. Honestly, she could use some alone time or at least a moment with Funshine.

"I think we could all use a little break. How about fifteen minutes?" Suggested Tenderheart, who noticed Wish was a little tired, too. Everyone agreed.

"Right, but then we have to work very hard to make a big turret, like Wish recommended." Science Bear said.

All the Care Bears went their separate ways. But Wish and Funshine went back to the space ship, _Happiness,_ where no one else bothered to visit. They sat up in the cockpit.

"That was so scary." Wish said, clinging to Funshine in a warm embrace, and trembling.

"It's okay. We can kick their booties."

"What? How is it possible?" she blinked.

"Because we have you, and they don't. Your ideas are amazing."

She smiled weakly. What if she wasn't enough?

"And you're more than anyone could ever wish for." Funshine said as if he was reading her thoughts, and he ruffled her fur, making her blush, "My shooting star."

Now her smile was full of joy.

"I think I know how to defeat them, actually. When we were shooting the turrets, and we put our caring energy together, the more we put in the bigger impact came out and shot more enemies. And since they all protect the center ship, where Shrieky and Beastly are, I think if we take out the center then everything falls to pieces."

Funshine's mouth dropped open.

"You're brilliant!" he picked her up and spun her around in a circle, very romantically.

Wish giggled and let him spin her around. Then he brought her down, and gave her a sweet hug. Then he kissed her cheek again. Warmth spread through her like melted frosting.

"We should go tell the others." Wish said.

"Don't you want to spend a few more moments alone?" he asked, giving her dreamy eyes.

She couldn't refuse.

"Okay, my sunshine." she gave in.

Quicker than she expected or wanted, the fifteen minutes were up. Wish was full of happiness and a sweet feeling was in her heart. She felt so much better after spending that short amount of time with Funshine and his affections. Her heart was aflutter, like a shooting star. She felt like she could walk up to Shrieky herself and not be afraid to talk some sense into her.

"Let's go tell the others!" Funshine said, beaming a smile. He held her paw, and they wove their way through the dimly lit ship. But Funshine was glowing, and he lit up the corridor.

They came out to the Cube, but found it was a lot darker than it was before. Thankfully Funshine was shining in the dark.

It took a bit longer to get back than it had to get to the ship, because the back up power was failing. Wish and Funshine met Tenderheart and they went and looked for Science Bear.

"Wish found a way to beat the bad guys." Funshine said proudly.

"You did? That's great!" Tenderheart praised her, "Now where is that Science Bear?"

They spotted him flying around on his rocket boots in the air, glancing down at his notebook, trying to see with just a flashlight he wore on his head. Cosmic Light and Helpful Heart were by his side, showing him blueprints of the turret. Helpful Heart's fur was glowing like an orange neon sign. Science Bear was glowing neon green.

"There he is!" they all went up to him. Good thing they had their rocket boots on.

"Hey Science Bear, you have to hear this!" Funshine said, "Wish figured out how to defeat the bad guys!"

"She did?" he looked up at them, not believing them at first.

Wish told him all the details she came up with – well, just for the bad guys, and kept out anything she did with Funshine. No one needed to know about that.

"We can win!" Tenderheart said with a lot of hopeful spirit in his voice.

"I hope so." Wish nodded.

"Well, there's no more time to waste. It's time to defend our Caring Universe."

Then, a warning beep sounded through the overhead speakers.

"What's that?" Wish covered her ears.

"System failure." Science Bear groaned and muttered something under his breath.

The room was submerged in darkness, save for random glowing spots of other neon Bears, emergency exit signs, as well as Funshine's shine. Now everyone's hopes were crashing down. They couldn't make the blaster in these conditions. Then Wish remembered the ship. There was still power on the ship, but she didn't know if that would help or even be enough.

After a few agonizing minutes, the beeping stopped.

" _Happiness_ has it's own power." Wish reminded them.

"What?" Science Bear was confused. He scratched his head.

"Our ship! Our ship has it's own power that you could use. Don't you have something that can harness it?" Wish asked.

"We might… but it won't be enough." he shook his head.

"It can still help." Wish rolled her eyes, "Right?"

"I guess so. Let's give it a try."

So they did. Science Bear found an energy harnesser, and they took the energy from _Happiness_.

As they were busy, Helpful Heart came to them with important and urgent news.

"Excuse me, Science Bear, even though our radar systems are down, we have lookouts and they have spotted enemy drifters staying behind to keep an eye on us." she said.

"I thought they _all_ left." he rolled his eyes.

"Unfortunately, not. I'm sorry, but I had to notify you." she said.

"Thank you. We'll hurry as fast as we can."

They collected all the energy they could from the ship _Happiness_ , and were able to just barely scrape up enough to complete the turret. It was a major set back, and mostly all of the Cube's power was lost. They had to complete the next step of their plan quickly. Over the hour, more enemy rogues had been spotted, but then they vanished.

Wish trembled as they brought the new and finished blaster to the wall, where other employees and a few Care Bears were making another window, just like the other turrets had.

"This had better work." Science Bear said.

In order for the blaster to operate, all of the Care Bear Family had to Stare into it. One by one, the Care Bears did their Stare, and were drained of energy again. Science Bear even had several of his employees Stare into the blaster, to give it a boost. Everybody was given coffee and energy bars by Helpful Heart Bear. Soon the blaster reached full capacity. Wish hoped it worked, too. They only had one shot, so they had to make it count.

"Maybe we can contact Shrieky and tell her that this is her last chance to change her mind." Wish said, wiping the sweat off her forehead, and nibbling an energy bar.

"It wouldn't hurt, as long as we don't provoke her."

"I think our very breathing provokes Shrieky." Funshine retorted, making tsk-ing sounds.

They all went to _Happiness,_ and were surprised to find a little bit of power left, just enough to make a two minute space call.

Love-a-lot and Wish made the call with the ship's communications.

Shrieky laughed manically, and Beastly chuckled with her, playing with a mini blaster ray.

"You dare call me again? Talk about your biggest mistake. Either that or you fur balls love chatting with me." she laughed evilly, and tossed back her ponytail over her shoulder.

"Shrieky, this is your last chance. We can still handle this situation peacefully."

"Yeah right!" Beastly said, "You just want to fight!"

"We'd actually love _not_ to fight!" Love-a-lot.

"Blah, blah, blah. It's all talk. No action. You guys are boring. Have you considered that I still want those three thousand wishes and Science Bear's awesome tech?"

"Well if I'm granting them, I need to know what they are. So…" Wish was incredibly nervous.

"You know what, forget them. I want to speak to Science Bear."

Science Bear came.

"Yes?"

"I want all your latest technology, especially a pair of exquisite rocket boots! With my name on them!"

"I want rocket boots too!" said Beastly, chuckling and he pretended to shoot the blaster ray at them.

"I'm sorry, my stuff isn't for sale."

"Even if I offered a reasonable price?"

He shook his head and crossed his arms.

"What if we came in and took it, Shrieky?" Beastly suggested.

"We're trying to do that, you stupid fur ball!" Shrieky yelled.

None of the Care Bears were impressed, but they were shocked by Shrieky's announcement.

"You're not welcome here." Science Bear informed.

"YAWN." Shrieky said loudly, "Don't care. I still want your stuff. I have an army, and you don't."

"Yeah, well we have a heart, and you don't!" Wish growled.

"Let's not get aggressive here." Tenderheart Bear warned.

There was a lot of talking, and it wasn't going anywhere. Wish didn't want to resort to her latest idea, but she'd have to give it a try.

"Shrieky, I have a deal. Want to hear it? It regards those wishes." she said.

Everyone went silent.

"Go ahead, you stupid Care Bear."

"If you leave Science Bear and his cube alone, I'll give you just three wishes, but only after you tell them to me. I have to know what you want or else I can't make it come true."

"Hmph." she grumbled, contemplating.

All the Care Bears looked at Wish Bear, hoping that what she was doing was right.

"And that's a promise?"

"Um, sure. Correct." she said, crossing her fingers behind her back for everyone else to see.

Shrieky stared hard at her. She seemed almost not to believe her. Then she made her fingers into a gun shape, and shot them.

"I'm afraid I can't accept your offer." she cocked her head, "Nothing can stop—"

The power went off! Everyone was surprised at first, but then was disappointed. How had that been only two minutes?

"What did they say?" asked Funshine Bear.

"I didn't catch the last words." Wish said, shaking her head, "It got cut off. The power died."

"Looks like we're going to have to battle them after all. Are we ready to protect Care-a-lot?" Science Bear said, trying not to sound too worried.

A few heavy rumbles could be felt through the floor. Everyone knew without being told that the enemy was attacking again. Sirens faintly wailed. All the Bears quickly went over the battle plans, and took to the shuttles that were used for defense or employee transport.

"Over and out!" Science Bear said over the radio once everyone was inside their shuttles.

Even though Wish was feeling kind of sluggish, she wished for her and her family, and all of Science Bear's employees to have more energy. The Care Bears sped out in their space shuttles to come face-to-face with the enemy. Several groups on the sides were shooting at the cube, causing damage. The whole time, Wish was trembling and just hoping they would be enough.

"This is for Care-a-lot!" Wish said, boldly taking the first blast.


	8. To Shake the Stars

Her shot missed the targeted enemy, but thankfully it did some damage to the line of defense behind it. She gritted her teeth and furrowed her eyebrows with determination. Wish was not going to let one miss ruin her chance to save Care-a-lot with a successful hit later.

"We can do this!" Funshine said words of encouragement through the speakers to everyone. Then he privately messaged her and said, "Don't give up. I believe in you."

Wish shot an enemy and a wing blew apart. Funshine was really helping her.

"Let's make some fireworks!" She said. There wasn't really a lot of time for sweet-talk right now. She was certain after they won the battle there could be some flirting. Actually, make it lots of flirting.

Wish took down a group of seven enemy ships in a row and was feeling confident and focused. She knew to disable the ships so they couldn't fire their weapons back at them and she couldn't stay stationary either. She had to fly around to avoid being hit.

Grumpy was the first one to go down, just minutes in.

"I'm hit! I can't fire anything!" he told everyone through the speakers.

"Head back to the Cube and go to the new turret!" Tenderheart said.

"Be careful!" Share Bear warned.

Grumpy clicked off the radio and flew back to the Cube. Wish was certain he was much safer inside. She quickly focused back on the battle. She dodged the ships, and it was like flying over those asteroids when they came to the cube. Fear kept her alert, but she wasn't going to chicken out because she was scared she might get hit, or worse, the window would break.

A barrage of caring blasts lit up the darkness. The action only got more chaotic from that moment on. A few times the enemy pushed the Care Bears back, but they always used their defenses and pushed forth with all their hearts.

Love-a-lot and Share went down next. To make up for their loss, Wish shot double time than what she already had been doing. She flew around like a bee, trying to be unpredictable and did flips to confuse the enemy. Sweat formed on her forehead and she quickly wiped it away. All she could hear was thunder.

This was getting very exhausting, even with her wished energy. She knew this battle couldn't last much longer.

Then Wish Bear's communication's systems failed.

"Hey!" she growled, confused, but she didn't have that much time to worry about it, as she was in the heat of the fight.

She blasted another enemy ship, and dodged another blast. Then her communications came on as she got closer to the Mothership, even though she wasn't even at the front door.

Wish heard Shrieky's evil laugh in the speaker. For a second, it sounded like she was actually in her ship. She almost jumped out of her seat.

"You think you can defeat us? Good luck with that! Nothing can stop the power of evil!"

"Get out of my ship, Shrieky!" she shouted.

Shrieky used her infamous screech, and not to mention it sounded ten times louder through the speakers. Wish covered her ears, but she could still hear the awful piercing scream. That shriek was enough to make her fur stand on end for minutes. Then her ship was hit, but not enough to cause too much worry.

Apparently, this was happening to the rest of her Family, too, as no one was firing. Wish hoped they would be back on their paws again quickly. Wish was the first one to fire again.

Wish blasted down enemy ships with a new kind of determination. She wasn't going to let Shrieky win something she didn't even deserve.

"I'm coming for you, Shrieky. Caring is always stronger than evil!" Wish said to herself.

Then she saw Funshine come and fly next to her.

"Want to fight together?" he asked.

"Absolutely!" she replied enthusiastically, and nodded, even though he couldn't see her.

She was grateful for his presence and support. Together they began firing at enemy ships and taking them down with accuracy. Damage was prominent. They were unstoppable! Wish gave a laugh of victory when they took a medium sized ship down.

"Yeah, teamwork! Who's the best? Wish Bear and Funshine! Boo-yah!" Funshine cheered.

The two of them struck down three more medium-sized ships, as they were moving up in the ranks. The enemy vessels also got bigger and shot more gunfire.

Friend Bear joined them, but quickly was shot down. Then Cheer Bear came to support Funshine and Wish Bear. She managed to hang on a little longer than Friend Bear and take down three more enemies. But then she was shot out of the sky, too. Wish noticed their forces were dwindling. Worry set in. Could they do it?

"Stay positive!" Funshine reminded her.

She shook the negative thoughts out of her head. They had to win!

"What if we used fart gas on them?" he asked, and it was totally unexpected that Wish burst out laughing.

"That would be a lot of gas. Where would we even get that much?" she giggled, and kept firing.

"Duh, I could get it from the Hormel factory. They make beans aplenty!"

"Maybe we should just use the beans." Wish was still giggling.

"Why are you telling fart jokes at a time like this?" Cheer's voice was confused and startled.

"I need to keep Wish's power up!" he said.

"And you should stop slacking on your shots, Funshine!"

"What do you mean? I'm shining!"

He blasted five enemies in a row to prove her wrong. Wish was happy he could multi-task.

But then the awful happened. Both Cheer and Funshine were brutally hit and unable to help! Wish was devastated when Funshine was hit. She could feel her heart sinking. Without him, she wasn't sure she could even hit one enemy.

"I'm sorry, Wish Bear!" Funshine cried, and his signal was cut off. Cheer didn't get to say anything.

Now it was only her and Tenderheart, and Good Luck Bear left. It seemed impossible…

"Let's try to get to the Mothership!" Tenderheart said.

It was a foolish idea, but they had to give it a shot.

"Good luck everyone." Good Luck Bear encouraged them.

They flew up over the enemy, and Wish put a cloak of invisibility over them with a wish. The three of them got about one thousand feet in front of the Mothership when the invisibility cloak dropped away. Wish was loosing her energy.

"I have an idea." she said, but didn't tell them, "Don't worry if you get hit."

"You better not do anything too crazy." Good Luck replied.

"I won't. Hopefully." It didn't sound too promising, but she didn't even know herself it would work.

A few seconds later, Good Luck Bear was taken down by enemy fire and Wish knew she'd have to put her idea into play soon. Her and Tenderheart lasted a bit longer, but not by much. When Tenderheart was hit, Wish killed her ship's power, and pretended she had been hit, too.

Now she was floating in dead space. She couldn't do it for too long, only a minute or two at most. Then, using only back up power, she moved her shuttle out of the way from where Science Bear's new blaster would fire. She waited and waited, and was about to give up hope because it wasn't coming. She hoped they remembered it.

A huge, incredible blast of light nearly blinded her! It was so sudden that she hardly knew what was happening at first. Wish covered her eyes with her paws, and then the light slowly faded. She took this moment to start up her shuttle again, and looked for an entrance. She used her ship's computer to help out with a scanner.

It spoke with a computer voice: ENTRANCE 500 FEET AHEAD.

Wish avoided a spike, and saw an entrance. She zoomed in, undetected, but she was still on her nerves. Her luck had been strong so far, but could she get in far enough to cause any noteworthy damage, let alone find Shrieky and Beastly?

She landed the shuttle in the bay, and stepped out. It was cold and dark inside, and smelled awful. Wish almost gagged. It was obvious she shouldn't be here. There were neon signs on the walls, but Wish was obviously confused. Where would Shrieky even be?

The Mothership was still trembling from the impact. Alarms sounded, and red emergency lights flashed. Wish heard a faint, far away scream that could only be from one person. Shrieky.

Wish was still trying to find her way around the ship when she was almost spotted by a pair of Evil Bears. She hid in the shadows of a stack of storage crates. Then she heard a familiar, mischievous, chuckle. Beastly was walking down the hallway towards her, and she wondered why he wasn't blasting his ray at the Care Bears. A deeper kind of fear pulsed through her. She pushed herself against the wall so hopefully he wouldn't see her. Her heart hammered in her chest.

 _Please don't see me,_ she begged.

Then he stopped right in his tracks, and noticed her shuttle. He scuttled over to it, inspected it, and scratched is head.

"I've never seen this ship before. Oh wait a minute, this is a shuttle from Science Bear's Space Cube!"

Wish used this time to try and escape while his back was turned. With the sirens blaring, she wouldn't have to worry about being quiet.

"And that can only mean that there's an intruder! Maybe it's a Care Bear!" Beastly said to himself.

With eerily perfect timing, Beastly saw Wish Bear's reflection in the shuttle's window, and whipped around to face her.

"A Care Bear! Shrieky's going to be so happy!" he said, and before Wish could run away, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her down the hall.

"Hey, let me go!" she growled, trying to wrench free from his grasp.

"Not a chance."

Then a loud scream shook overhead in the speakers.

"Beastly!" Shrieky yelled in the speakers, "Where are you? Why aren't you firing at the Care Bears?"

"But-but Shrieky, I have a Care Bear right here!" He said, even though she couldn't hear him.

Wish tried to pull away, but Beastly poked her with his ray blaster to keep hermoving.

They entered the cockpit. Shrieky was in the captain's chair, somewhat resembling a throne. She was at the wheel and was pressing buttons like a mad scientist.

"Arg, these stupid Care Bears!" she cursed.

"Shrieky! Shrieky, I brought you something!"

"It better not be tea!" she yelled.

"It's not! It's better than tea! It's a Care Bear!"

"A what? A Care Bear?" She turned around, and chuckled once she saw Wish Bear, "Ah, an intruder! A trespasser! What is it you want, Care Bear? To join the dark forces and rule the universe?"

She laughed manically, and Wish backed away.

"No! I'm not a traitor. I'm on a mission. To stop you!" She pointed.

"Yeah, yeah, likely _not_." Shrieky laughed.

"So do you like your present, Shrieky?" asked Beastly.

"Shut up, fur ball! Go control the ship while I take care of this so called… present." she spat.

"Right away, Shrieky!"

Wish trembled.

"Are you here to give me those wishes?" she asked.

"No. I told you why I'm here. I want you to leave the Space Cube and Science Bear alone." she said firmly.

Shrieky's dark eyes were wild and crazy.

"Well then, looks like I found myself a prisoner!" Shrieky said, "Lord No Heart is going to love you! Or is it hate? Whatever! You know what I mean!"

Wish rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to be so easily swayed.

"I'm giving you this last chance." she said.

"I thought I already used up my last chance, um, the _last_ time we talked! By the way, you need to work on your negotiating skills."

"You tell her, Shrieky!" Beastly laughed.

Shrieky ignored him. All her focus was on Wish Bear.

"I want Science Bear's stuff! And a pair of rocket boots!" Shrieky said, poking Wish Bear's chest.

"How about you leave us alone?"

But then it went completely dark, and the systems failed.

"Hey! What's going on?" Shrieky said, "I shouldn't have ever let you get on my throne, Beastly! Get out! Get out! You're nothing but a pile of space junk!"

He flew out of the seat before Shrieky could shove him out.

Then, outside the window, Wish could see that the ships were stopping. She crossed her fingers and hoped that all of them would fall, too.

"Shrieky!" Beastly said frantically, "Nothing's working!"

"Then fix it!"

"I can't!" he cried.

Wish sighed with relief, but she still could feel fear creeping up her spine. Shrieky turned her attention right back to Wish Bear. Shrieky put her finger to her cheekbone, and pouted in thought.

"Hmm…" she said, "I don't care. Honestly. I just don't. I never will, so if you try to do anything, it will be stupid. Your Care Bear Stare won't work on me."

"We can always give it a try." Wish teased.

"Trying to be brave, huh? You know if we just leave the Cube alone, we can always attack Care-a-lot."

"No, you can't!" Wish said, stomping her foot.

"No one's going to stop me." she laughed.

Wish was trembling, but not with fear. This time she was angry.

"Just give up. The battle's over, and we won." Wish said sternly, pointing to herself.

"What do you mean? You're lying. I won, obviously."

"Am not. You lost. The Care Bears stopped you. Caring is stronger than evil."

"You're pathetic!" Shrieky said.

Wish couldn't stand this much longer. How much more strength did she have left?

"Shrieky, the ships are all down." Beastly informed.

"Not this one!" she said, and pressed the back up button on the dashboard in front of her ugly throne. She pressed it again, but nothing happened. She shrieked, pushing the button furiously, refusing to be a looser.

"I already tried that—"

"Shut up, space brains!" she yelled.

While their backs were turned, Wish knew she had a chance. She stuck her belly out and counted down.

"Care Bears Stare!" she shouted, and nearly hit Shrieky, but she jumped out of the way.

"I didn't know Care Bears were so aggressive!" Shrieky said, still furious.

Shrieky used her mirror and aimed at Wish Bear, but she dodged just in time. They battled back and forth several times and Beastly tried to hit her with his space blaster.

As she was fighting, Wish felt slowly out of breath. The gravity was getting wonky, and they started to float around in the air. Wish's moves were getting sluggish. As if it wasn't cold enough already, the air was getting colder.

"Beastly!" Shrieky noticed the changes too.

"What? I'm not doing anything!" he shot at Wish Bear, and grazed her arm. She wanted to scream out with pain, but couldn't.

"Which is exactly why this is happening! The ship is loosing everything!"

Beastly gasped for air like an idiot, and passed out.

"The world needs science as much as it needs caring." Wish said, "We can't have darkness destroy our science."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Shrieky was pre-occupied with keeping the air and gravity back to normal, "Where's Lord No Heart when you need him?!"

"We could use the escape pod!" Beastly reminded her.

"Hey, that was my idea! Let's use the escape pod!"

They floated out of the room, and Wish tried to follow after them, but only a few feet away from the door, someone grabbed her foot. It was an Evil Bear, and Wish gasped with horror. Caring and evil weren't supposed to touch. Then things started getting really weird.

Wish's fur started turning dark aqua! Pure horror overcame her.

"No!" she cried, forgetting about Beastly and Shrieky trying to escape.

The nameless Evil Bear just laughed hysterically, and floated away and out of sight down the hallway. Wish muttered under her breath. Already, she could feel the effects of evil changing her mind and heart. She didn't want to wish anymore. She felt worse than Grumpy Bear. The darkness slithered up her paws and legs, and then started to spread to her white tummy.

"Please, someone help me!" she begged, failing her arms around, but it was futile.

"Who cares anyway?" she said with a voice that wasn't her own, but then she quickly changed it back before her symbol was darkened, "No! I'm always going to be a Care Bear!"

Darkness kept spreading upwards until it was right under her mouth. It felt like she had a huge headache. She didn't even notice the coldness of the ship anymore. Thunder rumbled in the ship somewhere, as it was getting attacked.

Wish gasped for air as the evil flowed up past her nose and eyes and then covered her ears within the minute. Now she was an evil bear, but only on the outside. She closed her now very dark green eyes.

 _I'm not ever going to be evil! I must save Care-a-lot!_ she thought, resisting the evil even though it was tempting to just give in.

"Give up." the darkness told her, "Care-a-lot doesn't need you. No one needs you."

"Liar!" she shouted.

"What's the point of wishing anymore? Let the darkness consume you."

"Never! I'm a Care Bear! I'm Wish Bear! I make wishes come true!" she screamed.

She punched the air, but she didn't know if that had any effect. _Get out of me, now!_ she demanded. She then realized the darkness sounded like No Heart. Wish gulped nervously.

"I wish you'd leave me alone!" she shouted, trying to rub the darkness off her.

Wish could feel her heart pounding in her chest. At least she still had a caring heart.

Then she saw No Heart himself. Inside her mind she screamed. He walked towards her. She would be brave and strong. Darkness couldn't change the fact that she was a Care Bear.

"Ah, a Care Bear. Just what I need for my potion."

Wish gritted her teeth furiously. She wasn't going to be an ingredient in No Heart's potion!

"Why are you attacking Science Bear?"

"Because, he's making Care-a-lot and Caring stronger. It should've been obvious to you."

She blinked in confusion at first, but then she realized No Heart was right. Science Bear had all these new gadgets that would help the Caring Universe improve. No wonder No Heart wanted to hurt Science Bear.

"Still, if others are stronger than you are, you shouldn't hurt them. You're the one who needs to work on your own strength." Wish said, crossing her arms.

"I think I'll take up on that advice, Care Bear. And it looks like I have just what I need to be stronger than caring."

Wish groaned. That wasn't what she meant!

"I'm not ever going to be an ingredient in any of your potions! Care Bear Stare!" She shouted, and stuck out her belly. Honestly she didn't expect it to work. At first it didn't, and No Heart laughed evilly.

"You think you can stop me like that? You're not a Care Bear anymore!"

She had to try again. She was still a Care Bear at heart.

"I am a Care Bear! I care! I care! I care!" she stuck out her belly again and a brilliant light shot out!

 _Oh my stars, it's working!_ Happiness burst through her.

Wish Bear hit No Heart square in the chest! Just as she did, the Care Bear Stare turned her fur back to its original turquoise color. Within no time, she had completely regained her original Care Bear appearance. Her Stare was still blasting, and No Heart was blocking it with his magic amulet. It wouldn't last for long!

After a few moments of struggling, No Heart's amulet shattered and fell on the floor. Now he was defenseless, but Wish knew she wouldn't defeat him.

"You've won this time, but I will defeat you soon!" he shouted as he turned into a shadow and vanished.

Wish stopped her Care Bears Stare, and panted. She wiped the sweat off her forehead. Then she hurried back to her shuttle, and was thankful to find it still there. But as Wish hopped in, she noticed the fuel tank was low. She might not make it back.

"Care Bears, I'm coming back." she promised.

Wish Bear flew out of the giant Mothership just as it was starting to crumble apart, and hurried back to the space Cube. The enemy's other ships were vanishing too, like they were heading home. Wish sighed with relief, but as she got closer and closer to the cube, her own shuttle slowed down. She had already used up all the back up power.

Then, her communications system was back online. She heard happy cheering, and knew her family had seen her returning. Funshine Bear was the first to speak to her!

"Wish Bear! You did it!" he cheered, and tears fell down her cheeks.

"I still can't believe I did." she said, her filled with joy.

"Wish Bear! Your shuttle is low on fuel, but I can still get you back." Science Bear announced.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Wish nodded, even though they couldn't see her.

"Wish Bear! I'm so glad you came back! Did you convince Shrieky?" Cheer Bear said.

Wish laughed lightly and said, "Not really. I think I should tell everyone the full report when I get back."

Fortunately, Wish Bear made it back to the space Cube with just drops of fuel left to spare thanks to the help of Science Bear. Wish hopped out of the shuttle, and Funshine was there to see her. He threw his arms around her, and sprinkled her with kisses! She blushed, and then was super embarrassed when she found out she had an audience when she looked over his shoulder.

"Funshine." She warned.

"What? I love you!"

This only made her blush even redder. He put her down, but still kept an arm around her shoulders. Everyone cheered, louder than they did when they were talking on the speaker.

"Three cheers for Wish Bear!" Cheer Bear shouted happily.

"Wish Bear! Wish Bear! Wish Bear!" They all chanted excitedly.

Once the rejoicing settled down, but excitement still hung in the air, Science Bear came over to her. She told everyone what had happened.

"Thank you so much." he said when she was done, "I'm very proud of you."

"Aww, I'm very glad. It was a honor to help the greatest scientist of all time!" she replied.

"Seeing that your mission is now complete, you can return to Care-a-lot. Of course, there are a few things that I need to give you before you go home."

"Like what? A science lesson?" Grumpy retorted.

"No! You're all done with training, and have proven yourselves worthy advocates. Please, come with me to the personal level to receive your rewards." he said to everyone.

"Let's go, Care Bears!" Tenderheart said, and everyone followed Science Bear.


	9. Starry Sights

Up at Science Bear's personal level, the Care Bears eagerly awaited the treasures. Wish and Funshine were holding hands, and Funshine was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Hey, you did amazing."

She smiled at him and said, "I couldn't have done it without you."

He looked at her with sunshine-filled eyes, and his expression changed.

"Is it just me or are you different somehow?"

Wish put her paws together.

"I guess I am different. I feel… stronger." she said.

"Well, you did Care Bear Stare No Heart right in the gut!" Funshine laughed, but it was kind.

"You bet I did." Wish said and playfully poked Funshine's sun symbol. He giggled from the attention he was getting.

Chatter filled the room, as the Care Bears praised Wish Bear and talked about her epic battle. Lots of them asked questions, but Wish hardly had time to answer any before someone tossed another at her. She put on a smile and just listened to them.

Then, Science Bear came out with a medal. He gave a silver one to each Care Bear, including the Cubs and Grams Bear. When he came over to Wish Bear, he placed a gold medal around her neck. She bowed.

"Thank you." she said, smiling.

"It's yours to keep. You earned it." he told her, putting a paw on her shoulder, and then to everyone, "As apart of all your medals, you shall all be welcome to visit here whenever you'd like."

The Care Bears whistled and clapped.

"Can I visit on the weekends?" Wish asked, and Science Bear nodded.

"Of course! Also, my other rewards to you are much needed fuel and food for your return journey home, and a generous payment of one million dollars worth to each of you."

Everyone's jaws dropped. There were thirteen of them, so of course it was a surprise. Even the Cubs got one million a piece. After it sunk in, Love-a-lot Bear started weeping. She hugged Science Bear and told him how very generous he was.

Tender Heart cleared his throat. Obviously, this amount of money was more than they could handle.

"I can buy all kinds of new make-up now!" Love-a-lot said.

"Science Bear, don't you need this money for your repairs?" Tender Heart asked.

"No worries. I have a very big vault." he winked.

Wish had an idea.

"How about we donate as much as we can to our National Space Center? They could definetly use it." Wish said.

Tender Heart nodded at once and replied, "That is a very great idea, Wish Bear."

"Don't we get to keep some of it?" Funshine asked, "I could buy a new hanglider!"

"I was thinking we could keep up to 5,000 each, and donate the rest." Wish added.

"I think that seems fair." Tenderheart smiled.

"More than fair." Science Bear commented, "You could keep it all if you wanted too. Please, after all that you've done for me, you've really earned it."

"Thank you so much." Tenderheart said.

"Oh! And as a bonus, you also get to keep your rocket boots." Science Bear said.

Now that they had their gifts and supplies, it was time to go home. Science Bear would transfer the money to them once they arrived back in Care-a-lot.

Before they got back on _Happiness,_ they said their goodbyes and thank you's to Science Bear. Wish gave him a big, friendly hug.

"I'm so glad we got to come here." Wish said, and let go.

"There is no scientific formula that can add up to how thankful I am for your help." he smiled.

"You're most extremely welcome."

They shook paws, and Tenderheart had a quick talk with Science Bear as the rest of the Care Bears climbed aboard the ship to go home.

The Care Bears left the Cube and now were on their weeklong voyage back to Care-a-lot. Within the first hour of being on the ship, Wish and Funshine were cuddling in Wish's bunk. Wish Bear wanted to spend as much time as possible with him on the return journey, and when they got home. Thankfully he didn't have the first piloting shift. They had passed the asteroids guarding the Cube already.

Between showering her with stardust kisses and giggling, Funshine told her about his favorite parts of the journey. Of course winning was one of them, and the rest were mostly about moments with her, and getting the rocket boots.

"What are you going to do with your reward?" Wish asked.

"Buy myself some new sports equipment and some music. And something for you." He added in quickly so he didn't sound selfish.

Wish smiled.

"So you're not going to tell me?"

"I want it to be a surprise!"

Cheer Bear knocked on the door, startling both Wish and Funshine. Wish wanted more alone time with Funshine Bear.

"Hey Wish Bear! You have to come see this!" Cheer said hurriedly.

"What is it?" Wish grumbled.

"It's totally amazing! Come on!" she said, and Wish and Funshine hurried out the door.

They followed Cheer Bear to the viewing port near the middle of the ship and looked out the tall windows. Outside, there was a group of rainbow comets shooting past. It was truly dazzling! Wish gasped with awe and wonder.

"Thanks for telling me." Wish said. Together, Wish and Funshine held paws as they looked out the window at the comets. Cheer stood a few paces to the left, and watched with them.

"I'm sorry I didn't cheer you up properly when you were upset about the asteroids. I hope this makes up for it."

"Apology accepted." Wish said lightly and with a smile. She gave Cheer Bear a hug.

"So we're friends?"

"Of course! Forever and ever." Wish said.

Now that they had made up – well they had made up before, but Wish wasn't going to refuse Cheer's kindness – Wish was even happier. The comets were still dazzling outside the window and Wish watched with starry eyes.


	10. Home Sweet Home

Nothing felt better than being home after a long mission. The Hall of Hearts was a relief for homesick eyes. The Care Bears arrived home just in time for dinner. Everyone unpacked, and Wish went downstairs to see Tender Heart in his office, receiving the hefty reward. He was also donating a great majority of it to the Care-a-lot National Space Center.

"Transferring the funds over?" Wish asked.

Tender Heart nodded and replied, "It certainly feels good to be home."

Wish responded with a smile. Then, she went and found Funshine playing the aliens arcade game in the living room. He claimed his victory in a few moments, and Wish congratulated him.

"What do you say you give it a shot? I'd say anyone who can defeat a real _alien_ army in space can bring down a pretend one."

Wish gave it a try, and she certainly did defeat it! Funshine hugged her and she honestly didn't want him to let go.

Then it was time for dinner. That evening it was very relaxing and no one was arguing or grumpy about anything – including Grumpy Bear. The Family enjoyed a well-prepared meal of cheeseburgers, fries and salad. Some Bears went to bed early that night and it was easy to understand why. For some reason, Wish Bear was restless.

After dinner, Funshine told her he bought her a new starloscope, and her very own arcade alien game. It would arrive sometime early next week. Wish greatly appreciated his kindness and thoughtfulness, even though she could just wish for anything she wanted to.

She eased her boredom slightly by watching Funshine beat his high score, and Cheer give it a few tries as well. Once darkness fell, there was a crystal clear sky filled with beautiful stars.

"Hey Wish Bear," Funshine said, nibbling on a cookie, "Want to stargaze?"

Wish jumped to her feet, grabbed his paw and they rushed outside to the back yard.

"I thought you'd never ask!" she laughed playfully.

Together they watched the stars twinkle and shine. Wish enjoyed Funshine's company and warmth. As they were looking up at the stars, Wish wondered if they could see the Space Cube from here, but it was very unlikely. It was so far away.

"You know, I could look at the sky all night and never find the most prettiest star." Funshine said.

"Really?"

"Well, the prettiest one is you." he gave Wish an Eskimo kiss and blush spread across her cheeks. Wish Bear gazed sweetly at Funshine, and knew that what he said was true.

THE END


End file.
